for my marketing class this morning the founder of Costco(!!!) Jim Senegal is speaking & doing a Q&A. does anyone have any questions?

ps Jim is one of the sweetest and most humble people I’ve ever met.

andddd we're live!

"i grew up in pittsburg - swimming in the rivers - it's a wonder i didn't glow in the dark"

costco didn't take credit cards until '99 because the 2-3% fees associated would cause them to have to raise their prices. their cobranded amex card in aug '99 allowed them to accept credit cards with only a .7% fee and maintain their prices.

"what's unique about us is that we've been profitable since day one. i think a lot of it was a result of our perspective - we were never focused on 'exit opportunities.' we wanted to help build an industry"

costco carries only ~3700 SKUs in a store (as opposed to a walmart, that typically carries around 120-140,000 SKUs). Of those, around 3000 are constant staples, and 700-1000 of them are "treasure hunt" items.

toilet paper is ~consistently~ the top selling item year-round...

...except in scottsdale, where costco's best selling item is vodka.

the second best-selling item? another brand of vodka

how does costco select items to sell?

1. can we do it well?
2. can we save our members money?
3. can we make a profit?

if we think the answer is yes to those three questions, we were willing to try a lot of different things.

"when we applied for a license to sell beer and wine in seattle, the alcohol control board inspector made us change our name, post the notice to sell twice, and had a 45 day delay.

i had two words for him, and they were not happy birthday..."

"but if i could go back, i would give him a hug. the short nightmare we endured taught us lessons that shaped costco for the better in the long run. it made us focus on our dedication to our members."

and now, costco is the WORLD's largest seller of wine.

these are costco's values - they stick to the first four (in that order), and so in that way, they keep their responsibility as a public company to reward their shareholders

oh my gosh...the renewal rate for costco memberships is 92 - 93 % EVERY YEAR.

there are tens of thousands of employees of costco that have been there for over 20 years. the average tenure of a costco employee is nine years.

"everyone is included in our business - this is not altruism, it's just good business."

"anyone who is successful and doesn't attribute some of their success to good fortune is a fool"

"here's the pope on his visit in juarez...have you ever seen the pope outside of a walm*rt?" :,)

a reporter once asked jim what it would mean if the price of a hot dog went up.

his reply?

"well, it'll mean i'm dead."

jim senegal's parting words to our senior class:

“have faith. don’t give up. congratulations to you all - and remember,

things are going to get better. “